Tomato Pruning

So this year I tried a new method of pruning tomatoes that I learned from my farmer friend (this is how they do it on the farm and it's suppose to boost the plant's production). I'm not sure officially what it's called, but I call it the tall and skinny method.

It's simple - you find the main stem and prune the suckers out.

Not so simple is to figure out what exactly a sucker is.

But I tried it on a couple of my tomatoes, and I think I actually got it right finally on one! Here's what it looks like now:

This is one that I am growing under the eves of my house on my deck where it's nice and hot and sunny and the Seattle summer rains won't bother it. It has been growing fabulously, despite my son hacking at it several times with a pair of scissors (hence the reason it is pretty bare on that bottom half). As you can see it has grown very tall. I actually have twine strung up from the base of the plant to a nail in my house eves to support it, and that has been working quite well. It did take a little longer to show flowers and produce tomatoes, and I think starting to prune it earlier would have helped. But now it has got some tomatoes and lots more flowers in the works at the top!

It turns out the sucker is the little part that grows out between a leaf and the main stem:

And here's another pic (sorry it's fuzzy).

You can see with both of them the sucker grows out of the middle of the stem and the branch. So you let all the branches grow, just not these little suckers. If they grow, they become another stem. (That's how tomatoes normally get so bushy)

This method is suppose to help the plant concentrate on just that one main stem and since it's spending less energy growing stems all over the place it's supposed to grow more fruit.

(And another benefit of the tall and skinny method: my kids can't reach all the tomatoes!! Hooray to actually having tomatoes ripen on the vine!)

I really like this method, and next year I plan on doing it with all my tomatoes. It saves on tomato support as well - they will all only need one long stake or some stringing up like I did here!


A side note: as you can see I have basil planted in the pot with the tomato. According to my new favorite book, Roses Love Garlic and Carrots Love Tomatoes, it is mutually beneficial to grow basil and tomatoes together and since I love cooking with basil I love that I can have it grow with the tomatoes right by my back door! (Tomatoes are also good to grow with a whole slew of other plants because apparently they have a chemical they produce in their roots that deters a lot of bugs that pester other plants). I highly reccomend this book. I wish I had gotten it earlier since it is a fabulous book and very fascinating! I plan on using that book as my guideline for planning next years garden! (Something to do during those cold winter months when I can't be out there in the dirt!)